Joined: 06 Jul 2003Location: In a seedy karakoe bar by the banks of the mighty Bosphorus

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 6:44 am Post subject:

Sounds like you're a fingerpicker: Check out John Fahey or Leo Kottke, if you want inspiration. Michael Hedges did some fantastic covers; "Gimme Shelter," "She Drives me Crazy" (yes, THAT one), "Eminence Front", "Lucky Star" (Yes, Madonna), "All Along the Watchtower"... These guys do almost everything in open tunings, though, so if you're looking to take it up a notch, to go to the next level, whatever - this might be for you.

Jimmy Page used a lot of open tunings on III, as well, come to think of it... "Bron Yr-Aur Stomp", "Friends", "That's the Way"...

check out "The Creek Drank the Cradle" (album) by Iron and Wine.
It's really mellow stuff but, i think most of the tunings are straight forward. That album is quite brilliant. He recorded it in his living room and subpop released it TOTALLY as is. It makes for really crappy sound quality, but at the same time, it seems to add and even greater allure to the music (in my opinion)...

if you can find a guy named "Luke Doucet" from to. his music is GREAT. Not too complicated and super fun to play (also does both picking and strumming and writes great songs). He play the geetar in sarah macgloclan's (or however you spell it) band.
you may have to do a bit of searching for that.

Gomez's song "She's Fine" is also fun to play.
jack johnson is generally incredibly easy to play (so long as you have a good grasp of rhythme).

eunoia...do you have websites for these guys? they sound quite good.

There is also a guy that i've heard of, from about 4 different sources (living in exact opposite sides of the american continent) and they swear that the guy is absolutely the best guitar player alive...
bob goodson...rob dobson...
i just can't remember his name right now...
don babson...crap!! this is driving me crazy. I'll get the name and post it up here as i've been told (by all four of my buddies) that this guy is shocking to hear, and even better to see.

Sounds like you know how to finger pick so, "Blackbird" by the Beatles is a winner. Always brings the house down, especially the chicks ...

This is true. Words of wisdom. The boy who played blackbird for me is the boy I want to marry. It works great on chicks, especially if you have a decent voice. They will think you're very sweet. I think it's worth it to learn, even if it is a little difficult at first.

I was just joking. Playing Zappa is for the guitar samurai master.
Thanks for the link. Great stuff

I knew that. I was playing along.

Some of my friends are professional musicians/music professors now and I remember being blown away by their performances of Frank Zappa's rock and classical music when we were students. Seeing them play was indeed like watching samurai masters. Zappa really understood that music could be a very visual experience.

I read an interview in a guitar magazine with Alice Cooper one time and the interviewer asked him who the greatest guitarist in the world was. He said Frank Zappa. He told a story about a guitar contest with the likes of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Jimi Hendrix, others I can't remember. He said Zappa came on last and started playing about a minute of each guitarists' style...so well that you could close your eyes and picture them doing it. Then he played his own stuff and blew everyone there away. If you ever get the chance, rent a 2 tape video set called "Baby Snakes." Great live performances as well as some of the trippiest claymation you'll ever see.

I read an interview in a guitar magazine with Alice Cooper one time and the interviewer asked him who the greatest guitarist in the world was. He said Frank Zappa. He told a story about a guitar contest with the likes of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Jimi Hendrix, others I can't remember. He said Zappa came on last and started playing about a minute of each guitarists' style...so well that you could close your eyes and picture them doing it. Then he played his own stuff and blew everyone there away. If you ever get the chance, rent a 2 tape video set called "Baby Snakes." Great live performances as well as some of the trippiest claymation you'll ever see.

Reminds me of the time my friends entered a heavy metal band contest. The contestants were all high school students, with exception of my friends who were university music students. All the kids played trash metal, except for my friends, who played some Rush and Frank Zappa. They ended up being ranked last...but guess who won the best guitarist, best drummer, and best bassist prizes.